Hotel Les Deux Gares

Character and identity

A six-storey limestone corner building on a quiet backstreet in Little India, a stone's throw from Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord. The 40 rooms are the first hotel project by designer Luke Edward Hall, who treats the place as the imagined Paris pied-à-terre of an eccentric bohemian: leopard-print and electric-blue sofas against toile de Jouy, candy-stripe curtains, painted ceilings in yellow and pink, vintage ceramic sinks in the bathrooms. Across the street, Café Les Deux Gares, with its trompe l'oeil tortoiseshell ceiling and Art Deco lighting, pulls in a local lunch crowd. Service is laid-back and unscrutinising. A sauna and small gym round it out.

Who's it for

Bottom line

The draw here is Hall's maximalist interiors at a price point that, for Paris, feels genuinely sharp, paired with a café across the road that has become a destination in its own right. Book a fifth-floor room for the balcony and railway views, treat the three-course lunch as part of the stay, and come ready to embrace a neighbourhood that trades grandeur for character.